24 April 2014

A brief review #049 - "Return of the Gryphon"

As many of you will know, in 2010 I published The unofficial cartoon guide to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. At 300+ pages the book features 700+ pieces of trivia, 460+ deleted scenes, 360+ examples of animation reuse, 380+ quotes, 50+ abandoned episodes, and a LOT more! It is the book that NO fan of the Filmation series can live without! BUY IT NOW!

As an incentive, here is my brief review and rating (as they appear in the book) for "Return of the Gryphon"...

What this episode does better than any other episode in the series is present life at the Royal Palace from a fresh perspective. The story of Thad is an interesting one, and numerous times during the episode it is easy to associate with him; especially his frustration at not being noticed. However, Thad is not the only star of the episode. The Gryphon is one of the series' best monsters, is able to carry many a scene; in part due to the beautiful animation utilized. There are numerous moments of really good character animation throughout the episode, combined with small moments of good character writing. David Wise crafts an episode in which the heroes are not the stars, and succeeds. 6/10

3 comments:

Kevin Martinell
said...

Totally agree, Sir! I wanted to add that the villain cameo in the beginning, featuring Trap Jaw and Beast Man, was a plus, as they really caused all of the trouble! I like how this episode featured two moral messages, the one at the end of the episode stating that Thad took responsibility for his actions and the second was the message that it's who you are, not what you have, that's important. I also found one scene amusing, when He-Man throws the Gryphon into outer space, to which the furious creature immediately flew back down, at lightning speed! I also wanted to add that James featured two noteworthy excerpts from this episode, one near the very beginning of this Blog, focusing on Trap Jaw's hilarious remark, "Stone Deaf," the other featuring a behind-the-scenes look of the animation that featured the Gryphon destroying the statue of the same creature, featured in one of his "YouTube" videos. Definitely an above-average episode and one of the better episodes of He-Man's Season One. :) Thanks for reading and God Bless! ~"KevyGuy" :)

I gave it an 8 out of 10. the battle between He-Man & The Gryphon was incredible. you really get to see He-Man flex his muscles and show how powerful he really is. He literally throws The Gryphon into space and then lifts up and hurls an entire mountain into a river bed to save a forest from being burned down